Tsunami
toll rises to 25,000 in South, SE Asia
New
Delhi: The death toll due to the Tsunami tidal waves,
which hit South and South East Asia on Sunday morning, rose
to more than 25,000 till Monday evening. The number of dead
in India alone has risen to 7000. Latest figures indicate
that over 12,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka alone and
over 80 lakh rendered homeless. In Indonesia too, the situation
is grim. Nearly 7000 people have been killed in the country,
with the Aceh region in northern Indonesia being the worst
hit. In Thailand nearly 840 people, including an Indian,
were killed mostly in the holiday resort city of Phuket.
Resort island Penang and the Patong beachside too bore the
brunt of the killer waves.
In
India, Tamil Nadu is one of the worst affected states where
3300 people are reported dead while 3000 were killed in
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In Pondicherry, 377 people
have died and hundreds of fishermen are still missing. 96
casualties have been reported from Andhra Pradesh, while
the toll in Kerala has touched 150. Officials say the earthquake
measured higher than they had earlier estimated. It has
now been measured at 9 on the Richter scale. Meanwhile,
there have been as many as 27 aftershocks since Sunday night.
Two strong ones hit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands early
on Monday, one measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale and the
other measuring 5.1.
The
armed forces and the Central para-military forces are already
involved in the rescue and relief operations. Chief Minister
Jayalalithaa has undertaken an aerial survey of the affected
areas with Patil and other ministers in Tamil Nadu. "We
have opened 18 relief centres, organised medical teams and
first aid centres, but we are finding it difficult to localise
the distressed people, onlookers are disturbing us, even
affected people are reluctant to leave their damaged properties,"
said Vijayakumar, the Commissioner of the Chennai Corporation.
Naval coastguard and IAF helicopters are scouring the stormy
sea off the coast of the worst affected areas in Tamil Nadu
to search for trapped people and for the dead. These included
Nagapattanam, Cuddalore, Karakkal, Pondicherry and Chennai
as well as waterlogged inland areas.
In
the east coast, five ships have been deployed off the coastline.
These ships are mostly equipped with helicopters. Helicopters
from the Naval Air Station of Arkonnam in Tamil Nadu have
been deployed for operations along the coast of Pondicherry
and Nagapatnam and Karakal in Tamil Nadu. Chetak helicopters
from Vishakhapatnam Air Station have been deployed for operations
off the Andhra coast, especially in areas like Prakasam,
Nellore Krishna and W Godavari districts. For Sri Lanka,
four ships have set sail from Cochin and Chennai for Galle
and Trincomalee. They have medical relief supplies and naval
rescue divers using small Gemini boats. An earthquake measuring
8.9 on the Richter scale - the biggest in 40 years - with
its epicentre 40 km below the seabed, triggered a chain
of fast moving waves called Tsunamis.
US
agency detected quake early (Go
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Los
Angeles: The head of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre
said US officials who detected the undersea quake tried
frantically to get a warning out about the Tsunami. But
there was no official alert system in the region, international
news agencies quoted Charles McCreery, the director of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's centre
in Honolulu, as saying. "It took an hour and a half for
the wave to get from the earthquake to Sri Lanka and an
hour for it to get ... to the west coast of Thailand and
Malaysia," he said. "You can walk inland for 15 minutes
to get to a safe area.We tried to do what we could. We don't
have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part
of the world," he added. The earthquake, of magnitude 9.0
as measured by the US Geological Survey, struck at 7.59
a m (1159 AEDT) and was the world's biggest since 1964,
said Julie Martinez at the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Cabinet
approves Rs 500 crore relief fund (Go
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New
Delhi: The Union Cabinet has authorised Rs 500 crore
for the National Calamity Contingency Fund to provide relief
to survivors of a deadly tsunami that killed thousands across
coastal India, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.
After the Cabinet meeting, Chidambaram said that Andaman
and Nicobar Islands, worst hit by the quake and tidal waves,
would be considered separately for providing funds. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh appealed to government servants
to donate a day's salary towards his relief fund and to
members of the council of ministers to donate a month's
salary to the fund.
Sonia
leaves for Andamans (Go
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New
Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: Congress party President Sonia
Gandhi left today for a visit to the Andamans to personally
supervise the rescue and relief operations in the islands
where thousands have been killed by Sunday's Tsunami wave
attack. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and AICC General
Secretary Ambika Soni are accompanying her on the visit.
Nearly 2000 people have been killed in Andaman and Nicobar
islands by the killer Tsunami, which was triggered off by
a massive earthquake off the coast of Indonesia. On Monday,
the area was experiencing powerful aftershocks of the earthquake,
measuring 6.0 on the Open-ended Richter Scale. The tremors
occurred around 6.20 a.m., and officials in Port Blair termed
the situation as being quite grim. Meanwhile, the AICC Media
Coordinator, Tom Vadakkan, who is coordinating Sonia Gandhi's
State visit has revealed that the Congress President will
be bringing along relief packages for distribution when
she visits the affected areas in Kerala on Wednesday (December
29). "Sonia Gandhi would oversee relief operations and would
be visiting the affected areas. The Congress President is
expected to visit the affected areas on the 29th and 30th
and it would be Congress party's initiative to have all
our frontal organisations being activated to work towards
relief measures with immediate effect," Vadakkan said.
Patil
reaches Chennai, consulting Jayalalithaa on Tsunami rescue
(Go
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Chennai:
With the death toll rising to almost 4,000 lives from
Sunday's deadly Tsunami waves along India's eastern and
southern coasts, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil made
a dash for Tamil Nadu capital Chennai early on Monday morning
to take stock of the situation arising out of the calamity.
Sources in Chennai confirmed that Patil has met Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa and is reviewing the rescue
and relief efforts that have been activated along the coastline
with the help of the Army, Navy and the Coast Guard. Apart
from Patil, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has asked
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Oil and Natural Gas Minister
Mani Shanker Aiyar and Health Minister Dr. Ambumani Ramadoss
(who was abroad nad has rushed back) to monitor the relief
and rescue operations at regular intervals in the coming
few days. Aiyar has also arrived in Chennai to monitor the
situation.
On
Sunday, the Prime Minister assured "all possible Central
support and assistance" to the states affected by the tidal
wave. "I have spoken to the chief ministers of the affected
states to assure them of all possible Central support and
assistance in the relief and rehabilitation effort," the
Prime Minister told reporters while expressing "deepest
sorrow" at the devastation caused by the earthquake and
the tidal waves. Singh also said that Cabinet Secretary
B K Chaturvedi and members of the Disaster Management Group
are coordinating all the efforts that need to be put in
to meet with the tragedy."
Advani
leaves for Chennai (Go
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New
Delhi: Leader of Opposition and BJP President L K Advani
left for Chennai this morning to assess the damage caused
by Sunday's Tsunami attack along India's southeastern coast.
Expressing deep shock and sorrow over the loss of thousands
of lives in the coastal areas, Advani said it was a national
calamity. The former Deputy Prime Minister is likely to
be joined by former BJP president M.Venkaiah Naidu, state
unit leaders L Ganesan and others. According to news agency
and television reports, Adavni also talked to chief ministers
of BJP ruled states and asked them to rush relief to the
affected areas. According to the BJP media cell, he also
spoke to the Lieutenent Governor of Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, who is currently overseeing the relief operations
in Nicobar.
Health
ministry deputes emergency relief teams (Go
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New
Delhi: The Union Health Ministry has deputed two emergency
medical relief teams for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and
Pondicherry to provide medical assistance to the people
affected by Sunday's tidal waves. Dr Badhrinath, Deputy
Director General of CGHS, is rushing to Pondicherry, while
Dr Reddy, Dean, JIPMER, Pondicherry, has been asked to coordinate
with the team for the emergency medical relief works and
the Regional Directors of CGHS at Chennai and Hyderabad
would coordinate with the state governments in relief operations,
a television channel quoted an official release as saying.
Meanwhile, an Emergency Control Room has been set up in
New Delhi. It would be headed by Dr P Ravinderan, Director
of Emergency Medical Relief. The Control Room telephones
are: 011-23017457 and 011-23017302.
